Thursday, May 17, 2018

After a decade of middling good results on the poker tournament scene, US grinder Brennan Benglis claimed a notable victory at Harrah’s New Orleans on Wednesday. The 33-year-old poker player defeated 335 entrants and took the first WSOP gold ring in his career by winning the $365 No-limit Hold’em 6-Max event.

Benglis took part in the fifth event during the Harrah’s New Orleans series, which is the final stop of the 2017/2018 World Series of Poker Circuit. Due to the popularity of the series and the prestige these events are generally associated with, the casino expected strong participation, especially by Harrah’s regulars. The 2-day tournament started Tuesday and a total of 336 players registered, contributing to the total prize pool of $100,800. The top 36 finishes reached the money on the first day and the minimum cash rewards were calculated at $529, quite a reasonable prize considering the buy-in was only $250.

Before the top six players could sit on the final table, Day 2 of the tournament started with Jeff Turton as chip leader who had a huge advantage over the others. Easton Oreman was eliminated in 8th place, followed by Jessy Capps in the 7th spot. Each of them took home $2,821 but those who managed to survive to the official final table at the Six-Max event were promised more sizable cash rewards. Among them were Mike Azzaro (6th, $3,880), Blake Whittington (5th, $5,396), and David Nicholson (4th, $7,591). Previous chip leader Jeff Turton finished 3rd and banked $10,807.

For his second position, Daniel Holmes from Lafayette, LA, received a consolation prize of $15,572, while the winner claimed a much more attractive reward. Brennan Benglis from Lake Charles, LA, managed to defeat him and take the title for $25,206. He also received his first Circuit ring, a goal he had for more than ten years, Benglis admits.

Benjamin Thomas Takes the Chip Lead at $100K GTD MONSTER STACK

A few hours after Benglis was crowned a winner of the fifth event of the poker festival, Benjamin Thomas finished with the biggest stack after Day 1 of the $365-buy-in No-Limit Hold’em MONSTER STACK Re-Entry. This is one of the largest events currently being held at Harrah’s New Orleans and it comes with a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. It also saw remarkable interest and drew a field of 707 entries, who helped increase the guarantee to $212,100, more than twice as high as originally promised by the organizers.

The final 72 players are set to make it to the cash. On Wednesday evening, the massive field was already cut and the top 37 players were led by Benjamin Thomas who held 1,218,000 in chips. Two other players had over 1 million in chips, Charlie Dawson (1,125,000) and Raymond Curran (1,068,000). Among the more notable names to finish the day with larger stacks were Jeffrey Trudeau (719,000), Steve Meyers (701,000) and Boris Kasabov (250,000).

Day 2 of the tournament starts Thursday at 1 p.m. local time and the 37 grinders remaining will receive a minimum of $785. Of course, the prize for the winner is much more exciting – it will be $43,479 in cash and a WSOP gold ring.